Roy then manifested a whiteboard out of the air and started his lecture

“So, there are a few rules with each cycle which have never changed until you came to be”

“Firstly, one of the rules was that for some reason we change gender each cycle and it never stays the same gender, until you happened. If you remember, the fourth cycle involved Rei who is a woman and unless there is something you are hiding from us, you are also a woman.”

Roy stated as pointed to the picture of us five, which appeared as he touched the board

I did notice that each of us were of different gender but did not think it was actually a pattern, and as he said it is peculiar that I was a female in this cycle when Rei who was in the cycle before was already a woman as well. Could this really be a random change or is there a much deeper meaning behind it?

“The second difference is that for some reason you did not get you own weapon, and instead got the ability to use all of our weapons”

“If you remember the dreams you experienced, you should remember that each of us only had one divine or main weapon that followed us throughout our lives, while we also used other weapons during our journey. The main weapon we used was always the divine weapon we had in our hands.”

He said that as he touched the board and the pictures of their divine weapons appeared on the board, during this time the others around the table also touched their weapons in response to the statement.

“But I do not have a main weapon and instead have access to all your weapons? Is that the second difference you wanted to point out?”

“Exactly! It seems that instead of being granted your personal divine weapon, you were granted the four weapons that we used and also the ability to use all of them, because even though we were very proficient with our weapons, we did not really branch out to learning the other weapon types and were average at best when using the weapons we were not familiar with.”

“But how are you so sure that I am proficient at using different type of weapons if you have not seen me in action? As far as I know.....”

“Of course, we have not seen you in action. But once we met up with you in this area, we kind of got a glimpse into your memories and saw that you learned to use different weaponry since a young age and got much better at them once you started getting our memories. Which I theorize could be related to your awakening.”

 “And I believe that most of us here have similar thoughts even though this is the first time I am saying it out loud.”

The rest of the people except me nodded

Then Stella raised her hand

“This is just a guess from me but, could this be due to the fact that in this generation the weapon we once possessed also had our abilities imprinted upon it?”

“That is very plausible, hell it might even be the truth but for what purpose did our abilities have to be imprinted on the weapons?”

Rei interjected

Sora then responded to her after they pondered for a while

“I guess we could see it as “Gods” giving us a chance since they think that Fifth would not have the necessary amount of time to train up for all the weapons and the calamity of this generation might also be cutting the training time of the Fifth. Although I am not full sure regarding this theory.”

“Uh sorry to interrupt the discussion and also the lesson but I just wanted to point out that my name is Itsuki and could you please call me that because fifth sounds kind of awkward to hear”

I then put my hand down and shrank a little

The other four looked at me and smiled a little

Roy then said

“You don’t have to be so afraid when speaking to us Fifth- oops I mean Itsuki since we are all of the same status here. And to be fair this is our fault for calling you fifth when you have your own name”

As to echo his statement, the other three at the table also nodded and spoke

“It’s nice to meet you Itsuki, and hope our powers will be enough to help you in this generation.”

“Is there anything you want to say before we move on to?”

Roy asked

“Can I just say it is kind of wild that, once I entered this zone you were able to gleam all of my past memories and able to see what I went through, do any of you have any clue what is this area we are at is called?”

I said my thoughts out loud

“I think most of us do not what is this world called and all we know is that we are summoned here when it’s time to speak to the next generation. But we have no clue when it happens and how long do the time pass since we are not conscious in between the times we meet our successor, and for me personally it felt like I was sleeping the whole time before I woke up to meet you. In addition, this is also the first time I am doing this so I am not sure if it felt the same way for the others.”

The rest also echoed her statement and said similar things about how they did not know what this place was and also how it felt like they were sleeping during the time they could not speak with their successor,

“Hm so this world and also our existence is a mystery is something no one knows the answer to.”

To be honest, I don’t think that they would have time to ponder about the mysteries if they are constantly in a state of deep slumber, which is why I do not blame them for not knowing the answer to the enquiry.

Roy then continued on with his lecture

“I think I will use this as a segue to talk about the last difference between you and the rest of us. If you remember your enquiry a few minutes ago about how we used singular pronouns when referring to the person we met in this world?”

I nodded when he asked me this question

“Because that was the case for the three of them, whenever they had to enter this world, only their precursor was the one they met with during this so-called event. And to tell you the truth, we all got acquainted well only recently likely due to the deviation related to you during this cycle.”

The last part he said shocked me because in my mind I thought they were quite well acquainted with each other but who would have guessed that it was only recently that they were able to meet each other and talk.

“Is it also related to this world that you guys were able to get acquainted fast despite only meeting recently.”

Stella then interjected and spoke

“The effects of this world are also one of the factors, the other reasons might be because we saw each other as someone who went through similar tragedy in life so we were easily able to get along. In addition, some of us were already acquainted during our cycles and met with each other with in this world during them, so it was not that hard to get re-acquainted with each other in this world. But while most of us only had to meet 1 or 2 new people in this world, Roy and you had to meet a lot of fresh faces so I guess there is a higher level of difficulty for you two to get acquainted with everyone here.”

Roy and I looked at each other and nodded

“That’s what I would say normally but the power of this world is really strong, because as you said although I felt a little scared to join this table at first but eventually, I was able to get used to being here and felt like we could be great pals.”

“I agree with Itsuki regarding that, since I was the first one in this whole cycle thing so I was only able to meet one of you at first and it felt weird meeting so many people in this world at once. But in just the brief period we met and spoke before Itsuki joined us, I like to think that we became much closer comrades”

Rei then raised her hand and spoke

“Actually, I also only met Sora before this so I am also of the “meeting 4 people at once club” and I agree with whatever they said, but yeah it was weird seeing so many people at the same time when I only met my predecessor the last time”

Stella looked apologetic when she realized she forgot about Rei

Sora agree with her as well

“True, but this alteration of the common rule regarding our cycle could also be a blessing in disguise since we were able to meet each other and this might even provide us with the clue and chance to destroy the cycle”

Everyone around the table including me nodded to show that we echoed his statement since we all thought it was great to be able to meet with each other

After this small exchange, Roy continued on with his lecture

“So, as we said just now, the third and final difference is that we are all present here in this world this cycle with Itsuki when usually it should have just been the predecessor who appears in this world. As to why we are all here, I theorize that it could be related to the fact that Itsuki has the ability to use all of our weapons, and maybe we are here to provide guidance and information about our weapons?”

Honestly, that could be it and I am glad that they are here since I do need to learn how to use these weapons properly and learn about the weapon’s histories

Sora looked at me and spoke

“With this two alteration happening in this cycle, she could really be the strongest out of all us if we can provide her with suitable guidance.”

Stella suddenly widened her eyes as if she thought of something

“Hey Itsuki, do you have a weak magical ability when compared to your peers, since we did not really see you use your magic when we saw your experience?”

She was right, and I gave her more information regarding my ability with magic

“Yeah, you are right I have a relatively low mana capacity and I also don’t have any affinity for elements so I can’t learn much things related to magic.”

Stella then continued on

“Hm sorry if you were sensitive, but it actually still does not interfere with what I am thinking. How many of our Armaments you can materialize at once now?”

“It’s fine because I don’t really feel too sensitive about it, and regarding your second questions I think I can materialize two of them at once albeit with some difficulty, as I can only hold them for about 30 seconds before I have to cancel out one of them. While on the other hand I can materialize one for a much longer time since it does not give me as much stress at all when I only summon one. To be honest I can probably summon more of them at the same time in exchange for a lesser amount of an activation period but I never really had a need for that since I only have two hands.”

“What if I said I had the ability to allow you to use multiple of them at the same time using magic?”

“Magic? But is there really a magic that I can use despite not having much affinity toward it?”

“Yes, there is and it is called manipulation magic. The best things about this magic are that it is not associated with any element so anyone can learn it even if they don’t have a specific magic affinity. In addition, because this magic only focuses on injecting your mana into the item to make it move, so there is no creation process involved with this magic, making the mana required to use this magic much lower than even rank one magics. The only prerequisite for this magic is that you have to have mana, which you fulfil already”

“So, this means that if I learn this magic and have the ability to summon them for much longer periods, I would pretty much have four armaments in my disposal despite only having two hands? That sounds kind of neat and also cool, but that means I will have to train long and hard to master its usage.”

“Already scared about having to work hard?”

“No, you are wrong, it’s the opposite I am very excited to have a goal to look forward to and achieving it will give me quite the satisfaction and the strength boost.”

Man, I can’t wait till I can use all four of them in battle

“That’s more like it, but be sure not to rush it, your first priority should be to learn manipulation magic and summoning two armaments for a longer period of time. And as you get more used to that, you can increase the number of weapons you summon and manipulate.”

I guess the first thing I should do after I wake up is find a grimoire about manipulation magic and get to practising

“But do you guys know how I can summon more of your weapons at the same time?”

Sora spoke up

“I think you can summon more of the weapons, if you are used to the weapon. If you get more used to the armaments, it pretty much becomes a part of your body and summoning them might not even put and strain on your body. The best ways to get used to the weapon is to either learn more about its history or use it more often, then it will slowly become a part of you and allow you to use more of them with ease.”

Rei interjected and spoke

“Of course, if you want learn more about the weapons then I think the dreams you have of us will help a lot, and if we have more chances to meet, we will also give you more in-depth history behind our personal weapons.”

I suddenly felt very sleepy and accidentally close my eyes for a bit before I widened them

“Huh? Isn’t this technically already my dream world, why do I feel sleepy here?”

Roy looked at my condition and spoke

“I think you are waking up soon, which is why you feel sleepy here and are going to fall asleep here soon. Although we only talked for a while it was a good talk, since we were also able to tell you about the difference we had in this cycle and also learned more about you as you entered this world. Sorry we could not provide much information regarding why we are going through this and hopefully the next time we meet, we will be able to find out more information regarding what going on.”

The rest also started to say their goodbyes

“I feel this same, and hopefully we will meet again soon because there is really a lot I want to ask about your weapons. So, for now goodbye and goodnight.”

After saying that I blacked out and woke up with my alarm ringing next to me

As I woke up and check the time it was 6:00 am meaning I had plenty of time to get ready and go to school.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face quickly, then started to open the fridge to look for some ingredients to cook some breakfast

Since I only had some eggs, I scrambled them to eat them with some bread

As I was eating my breakfast, I remembered that I was worried yesterday night about what class I might get today. I started to realize there was quite a high chance that I might get the <Freelancer> class since I recalled last night that this is the only class that can utilize all the <Armaments> I possess.

As I washed the dishes and got ready, I thought there was no way that I would get this <Class> right? I did not want to get this <Class> since it is a class with quite a few limitations regarding its growth despite it being an excellent class that works well in both solo and team environments, and I really wanted to be a <Paladin> if possible. But I guess I will live with whatever happens later today.

I packed the things I need in my bag and went off to school with an anxious feeling